Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
LYAH
Z ack Kincaid is handsome and suave, and maybe just a little bit of a geek. Nothing like the man I married three years ago. Almost the polar opposite to Nikolai Radaeva, in fact.
He arrived with Gabi’s husband, another suave and sophisticated man, who introduced us before leading my tearful sister away.
Now we’re alone and I have no idea what to say to him.
“I…”
“Do you…”
And then, of course, we both speak at the same time.
“Sorry,” Zack apologizes, sucking in a breath. “I know this must be as difficult for you as it is for me.”
“I… yeah.” I nod in agreement, looking for any trace of the boy I saw eighteen years ago, but there’s honestly no familiarity there. I guess I didn’t really look at him. I could have passed this man in the street and never have known what he is to me.
"Well, I suppose we should get down to business," Zack says, and I’m glad he’s taking the lead, because I have no idea what he wants from me, but he doesn’t seem angry, like I feared, so that’s something.
"I'm sure you're eager to get this resolved as quickly as possible."
I nod and smooth down the black dress I decided to wear which is totally unsuitable for our surroundings and just making me feel all the more self-conscious.
"Yes, I... I appreciate you meeting with me since I turned up without any warning. I know this isn't an ideal situation for either of us."
He studies me, adding to my unease and I do my best to appear composed despite how tense I’m feeling.
“Gabi told me she thought you had married without being aware of our parents’…
arrangement.” He grimaces at his choice of words, but a flicker of surprise escapes me that he knows so much.
"Yes, that's... that's correct. I had no idea until Gabi sent a message to the email address only she and I use. "
Swallowing hard, I look away and try to stop my fingers from twisting together.
Zack surprises me further by placing his hand over mine. “Is everything okay, Emylyah?” he asks softly.
That tiny kernel of empathy from a man I don’t know; one who’s been affected by our parents' actions just like me, but shows compassion instead of anger, is enough to unravel me, and a sob I can’t control breaks free.
“I’m sorry.” Apologizing for my weakness, I struggle to pull myself together. “I’m such a mess.”
“Hey, hey, hey…” Zack moves his chair around until he’s sitting next to me and puts a supportive arm around my shoulder. “Tell me what’s wrong. Perhaps I can help. We’re in this together after all.”
Gabi was right. He is a nice man.
Sniffling, I try to explain. “I don’t really monitor the email address Gabi and I use. By necessity, our correspondence has always been brief and infrequent.” I wipe my eyes, certain my makeup is smearing, but I’m past caring. “But it seems my husband - the man I thought was my husband… does.”
Zack looks distraught and his eyes scrunch together as if he doesn’t like where his thoughts are taking him. I’m proven right with his next words.
“Emylyah, did he… are you…” He sucks in a breath. “Are you safe?”
His conclusion startles me enough to pull me out of my pity party. “Oh! Oh, yes. Niko would never hurt me, but…”
Damn, the tears are back. “He was so angry,” I whisper. “He said some horrible things. Told me I wasn’t really his wife and accused me of deceiving him. And then there’s …”
I don’t want to mention the baby. I can’t take any more of his pity. It’ll be my undoing, and I need to stay strong so I can get through this.
Zack blows out another breath; I guess he’s frustrated too.
“Okay. There’s a lawyer right here on the island who can help us get this mess sorted out and notarized.
My own legal team has already put together all the necessary documentation, and I contacted them to send it all to Mia on my way to see you.
Then, when all that’s done, I’m going to transfer some money to you. ”
Wait what?
“But why?” I ask, looking at him in honest confusion.
“I’m a very wealthy man, Emylyah. And you’ve been my wife for eighteen years.”
“But…”
He shakes his head. “No buts. Even though you were unaware, there’s a postnuptial agreement in place.
I made sure of it after I found out about you.
And if things turn out badly between you and your hus…
ah, Niko, because of all this, I want the peace of mind knowing you’re taken care of.
After all, he never would have found out if I hadn’t asked Gabi to get in touch with you on my behalf, so some of the fault is mine. ”
“I…” My instinct is to refuse, but just as I open my mouth to form the words, I feel a fluttering in my abdomen and drop my hand to where my son just made his first kick known, like it’s some kind of sign.
Zack’s offer takes on new meaning. Haven’t I recently been fretting about how I’m going to raise this child without any means?
I don’t know what sort of figure Zack has in mind, a couple of thousand dollars for each year of our marriage?
Together with what I put in my safe deposit box, that would give me some much-needed breathing room, and the baby a solid start.
“Thank you,” I murmur, truly grateful for his thoughtfulness. It’s almost enough for me to wish I’d met this man under different circumstances. He’s one of the good ones. A stranger who’s shown more care than my own husband… except, Zack is my husband, isn’t he?
For a few more hours, at least.
I feel tears well in my eyes again and take a breath to force them back. Damn hormones.
With my allotted time on Elysium ticking away, Zack takes me to see the lawyer he spoke of.
Mia Johnson is kind and goes to great lengths to explain everything to me, since I don’t have the luxury of taking all these documents home to read, or consulting another lawyer.
Despite the circumstances, I trust her. She doesn’t seem to favor Zack over me, and I remember he said she worked for the resort, not for him.
A few signatures, and our marriage is officially annulled…
because apparently Zack pulled some strings - and possibly greased a few palms - to make that happen, since an annulment is apparently more difficult to obtain after so many years have passed, and normally an arrangement like ours would have to be terminated by divorce.
But money talks. In the world I live in, I know that only too well. There’s also a surprising bonus for me.
“Zack already explained you married someone else, unaware of your child marriage to him,” Mia says kindly.
“This annulment basically voids your marriage to Zack and removes the legal status of your first marriage. Essentially, what this means is, one...” She ticks her finger.
“You don’t need to worry about being accused of bigamy, and two…
” She ticks off another finger. “Your second marriage still stands, since there is no longer a prior marriage to be in violation of.”
“So…” There’s a lump in my throat. It’s almost too much to take in. “I’m actually legally married to Niko now?” The words come out as a raspy whisper.
Mia smiles. “That’s right.”
I miss a lot of what she says next, because this is just too huge. More than I ever dared hope for. It’s only when both she and Zack are looking at me expectantly, I realize they’re waiting for an answer from me.
“Sorry, what?”
Zack gives a wry chuckle. “Five hundred thousand,” he repeats, even though I have no idea of the context. Instead, I repeat it, inanely.
“Five hundred thousand?”
“Dollars,” he clarifies. “The settlement I’m transferring to you.”
I shake my head. “That’s too much,” I protest, but Zack is insistent.
“I won’t even miss it, Lyah. And at this point, I think you need it more than me. Just agree and provide Mia with your bank details. She’ll take care of the legalities.”
“I…”
He cocks a single eyebrow at me, so much like Niko does when he does that dominant thing of silently telling me he’s in charge, that it steals my voice and I nod dumbly and pass over my bank card without another word.
“Excellent,” Zack says, rubbing his hands together like he’s inordinately pleased about everything. “I’ll escort you to the helicopter.”
We say our goodbyes to Mia, and leave her office, but as we walk across a quaint courtyard, I see Zack looking towards a low, adobe building and checking his watch. “Do you need to be somewhere?” I ask, looking around.
He looks slightly guilty. “I’m supposed to meet my girlfriend for dinner,” he tells me. “I’m cutting it a little fine.”
“Oh! Go, please. You’ve already done enough, and Gabi’s meeting me at the helipad.”
“Are you sure?” I can see his indecision. I hope the woman he’s so obviously in love with knows just what a wonderful man she has.
“Of course. Just point me in the right direction.”
“I can do better than that.”
He places a call that I understand from hearing his side of things, means someone will come and pick me up in an ATV straight away.
Zack takes my hand in his, as we stand there and wait. “Good luck, Lyah,” he says softly, looking down at me with an affection I guess is born of experiencing this rollercoaster we’ve unwittingly ridden together. “I hope everything works out for you.”
The enormity of the rest of my life stretching out before me, with no clear path to follow, hits me in that moment, and I feel the easy tears that come with pregnancy prickle the back of my eyes.
Zack pulls me into a hug, and for a few short moments I allow myself to cling to his hard, reassuring frame, soaking up the little bit of support he offers like a damn sponge.
The sound of an engine tells me my time is up, and reluctantly I pull away. “Your girlfriend is a lucky woman, Zack. I wish you all the happiness in the world.”
“Take care, Lyah,” he says, kissing my cheek before helping me into the golf buggy. He gives me a wave, and I raise my hand in return before we turn a corner and he’s out of sight.
Then after another tearful farewell to Gabi, it’s onto the helicopter that brought me here just a few short hours ago - a whole other lifetime ago now things have changed so dramatically.
And just like that, I’m alone again.